Old brooms sometimes sweep better. That seems to be the case with New York Greek Americans, who continued their resurgence in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League with a 5-1 First Division rout of tough Cedar Stars Academy at the Metropolitan Oval last Sunday.

Dublin native Stephen Roche, one of several NYGA veterans that returned to the hitherto struggling powerhouse during the winter break, banged in four goals to make it two wins in a row this spring. Adam Whitehead completed the scoring from the spot.

Rodrigo had Cedar’s face-saver.

The victory lifted the seven-time CSL titlists and four-time Lamar Hunt/U.S. Open Cup winners into fifth place in the top flight after hovering in the relegation zone most of the fall.

Roche and fellow returnees Shaun Foster, Daniel Gwyther, Joe Ruesgen and Stephen Megaloudis were part of the Greek side that won the 2014 USASA Men’s Amateur National Cup.

The Greek reserves beat Cedar 2-0.

FREEDOM TIDE

Pancyprian Freedoms, the CSL’s other Hellenic power, also continued its upward trajectory with a 3-1 romp over Zum Schneider.

Luis Esteves [two] and Adam Himeno shot the Greek-Cypriots into third place on the table [7-1-4, 22]. Jordan Palmer [pen.] had Zum’s lone response.

Zum’s reserves had goals from Riccardo Sutherland and Oscar Bernal in a 3-2 loss.

IRISH STREAK

A goal in each half kept Lansdowne Bhoys’ two-year regular season unbeaten run going at the expense of Manhattan Celtic. They won 2-0 on Randalls Island to improve to 11-0-2 and retain the unofficial Irish Cup contested by the First Division’s three Irish teams.

The Bhoys also moved a step closer to their sixth consecutive division title since 2012.

Ovan Oakley put the champions ahead from the spot [35th]. Lansdowne then had to wait until five minutes from time to seal it, Marco Nunez forcing a Celtic own goal on a counter attack.

“Another tough opponent and great to see the fight in all CSL teams,” Lansdowne president William McGrory said. “There are no easy games in this league.”

The Bhoys, who stayed five points ahead of Shamrock, now switch their focus to the U.S. Amateur Cup where they entertain Boston’s Southie FC at Tibbets Brook Park at 8 p.m. Saturday.

In the curtain raiser, Lansdowne’s reserves held off Celtic ‘B’ 2-1 on Marc Vilson’s wonder strike and a Jack Legg penalty to lift that division’s Irish Cup. Eoghan Byrne was the Celtic scorer.

PLAYOFF BOUND

Second-place Shamrock rebounded from the previous week’s 2-1 setback against NYAC to beat Polonia 3-1 on Randalls Island and place a foot in the playoffs.

Andy O’Connell struck twice and Chris Uy once.

“Most important win of the season,” coach Kevin Grogan said. “Not a pretty performance but a massive win in our bid to make the playoffs.”

“Patrick Alvarez scored with an assist by Kareem Joachim,” Doxa’s Foti Bouklis said. “Kareem had a goal called off by a questionable offside. Our guys played great, but luck was against us. We finished the game with 10 men due to a red card halfway in the second half.”

ANDRE HEROICS

Short-handed NYAC ‘B’ was forced to deploy regular goalie Andre Wilkinson upfront and he responded with both goals in a 2-1 decision over Doxa’s second unit.

NYAC ‘B” “showed up a bit short due to four late scratches,” reserve boss Bill Saporito said. “Consequently, Andre, a goalkeeper by trade, was pressed into service as striker. Let’s just say he passed the test.

“Andre connected in the 55th minute with a quality right-footed strike and then broke the Doxa offside trap 10 minutes later to grab his second. Doxa hit a 27-yard bomb to get close, but our ‘D’ was solid.”

Nick Vonegypt was the man who hit the “27-yard bomb” on his debut.

KICK-FEST

In the second tier, both Manhattan Kicker sides were in imperious form at Laurel Hill Park where they bagged a combined nine goals without conceding any against Beyond FC.

Kickers’ reserves set the tempo with a 5-0 shellacking of the hosts, thanks to Dennis Kachintsev, Gio Lomonaco, Daveed Kanmi [two] and Almir Hot.

Division II North leaders NYPD were tied at 2-2 with Sporting Astoria at Soundview Park when the lights failed. Steven Lasso and Collin Wynter connected for the Cops.
“Believe it or not we were pressuring and the lights went out with 25 minutes left in the game,” NYPD manager Ron Mejia said.

They lead second place Brishna [7-4, 21] by two points following the latter’s 3-1 defeat of Inter New York SA at Flushing Meadow Park.

Essa Hotaki and Mohammad Yusuf Mashriqi [two] scored for Brishna.

MERCULRIAL CD

With five wins and six defeats in their 11 matches, it can be safely said that CD Iberia have blown hot and cold this season. Iberia was hot last weekend on Randalls Island where it led CPR White 4-0.

Russo brothers Adrian and Marchello each had a goal, as did Michael Ledesma and Chiki Vazquez.

Jambaar Stills twice finished off passes by Andres Rios and then turned provider for Roman Scialom in the CPR reserves’ 3-0 win.

In a delayed John Kilby League Cup fixture in midweek, CPR ‘B’ had knocked out Bronx Supreme 2-1 at Pier 40.

The Reds’ second unit produced a more emphatic 4-0 victory, with Hunter Norte [two] and Robin Dan Neri among the marksmen.

BRONX BOMBERS

James Sarpong and Bobby Akumauh made it two league wins in a row for Bronx Supreme who knocked off Panatha, 2-0.

STERLING EFFORT

Also in the second tier, Waldemar Pyryt pumped in six goals against the FC Japan reserves in a 10-0 Stal Mielec rampage. Jacek Korba [two], Krzysztof Daniszewski and Krystian Boguski accounted for the other goals.

Another two-year unbeaten streak continues in the CSL following BW Gottschee’s 7-0 thrashing of Beyond FC in their Metro Two West top-of-the-table encounter on Randalls Island.

Gottschee were methodical after getting off to a rapid start.

Forward Greg Davis set up Edgar Carpio for the ice breaker inside 60 seconds. Then Davis tallied himself and forced an own goal off the Beyond goalie.

Brandon Silva got Gottschee’s fourth, who could even afford to fluff a penalty before the interval. At any rate, Man of the Match Davis made it 5-0 on resumption and additional strikes by Sean Towey and captain Dion Amvrosiatos ended the rout.

“Four wins or three wins and three draws from the remaining six games clinches the West for us,” Gottschee’s John Ryding said. “Fingers crossed. We turned down promotion last year [they finished second] so we could build a deeper, more reliable squad. Hopefully we clinch for real this year.”

RISING STARS

NYC Metro Stars’ eighth straight win, 3-2 over Barnstonworth Rovers at Bushwick Inlet, elevated Edison Calle’s side into third place Metro Two West, a point behind Beyond FC.

“An epic game,” is how Calle described it.

It started with Mamadou Diombera connecting in the fourth minute, Guisseppe Romero [69th] notching the second and new Togolese signing Farouk Dondja nicking it [89th].

“I’m really proud of my players. We secure third place with an important victory over Barnstonworth Rovers,” Called said.

David Reischfeld [2nd] opened the scoring with a brilliant strike, MVP Khouri Mullings reeled in four goals and an assist and Nick Bill returned to action with a brace.

“Oscar Villada and Jordan Caylor had assists, and Tim Peterson made his first appearance for the Kickers and played strong in the defense. All around, a dominant team performance,” reported Mike Fitzgerald.

FINN GOAL

In Over-30 West action, Mark Finn’s effort earned front runners Lansdowne Bhoys a share of the points in a 1-1 draw with BW Gottschee on Randalls Island.